Recycled Materials.

Hello. Below I have included some examples of my work with recycled materials, small and large. I have chosen these examples to give you an idea of how I work in different contexts, to differing briefs.

The Recycled Quilt

This is the outcome of a scheme of work completed by one Year 8 group, made during my 2nd teaching placement at Kingsbridge Community College. We looked at ‘recycling in textiles’ through studying The Amish and compared that with the recycling of artist / maker Susie Freeman, and The Philipino workers’ co-operative Brasura Bags. In pairs, the children designed a circular animal symbol and wired it to a background of woven red plastics.

Big Bee

This sculpture is 8ft long and was made with the help of about 120 children over a period of 5 days. In small groups the children threaded yellow bottles tops, and cut or wove rubber inner tubes and plastic bags, so that I could assemble these over a frame of recycled car parts and lobster pots (donated by River Teign Shellfish). It was made for an environmental garden at All Saints C.of E Infants School, Sidmouth.

Pippi Longstocking

Taken from the illustrations of Lauren Child, this Pippi dances her way into a landscape of woven paddling pools, and industrial off cuts. She holds the end of a garland of leaves and flowers, that stretches out behind her and around the corner, like a plastic paper trail. This ‘relief mural’ is about 5ft high and was also made over a period of 5 days and can be found at St. Michael’s Primary in Kingsteignton.

The Rocombe Tree

This huge fantasy tree was made in a cow shed as part of the extravaganza that was ‘The Art Farm Project’. It was made with the help of children and adults attending workshops over two weekends. At the point of completion the tree stood at about 15ft high! This was an ‘Earth Drawn Lizard’ project, which was the name of the company fellow artist Gaby Lovatt and I gave ourselves when we worked together.

Scrap Planet

Re-build the planet in a day! This is a workshop package as opposed to a tailor made project. Topics highlighted are geography, ecology, citizenship and art. I provide a papier mache sphere and held up on a carpet tube column. The class/es are then divided into teams that focus on different continents. They are given a template of their continent’s outline, and scaffolded instructions about how they will make a fast, hands on investigation into the physical features of the landscape, the flora, the fauna and the symbols associated with that place. Using papier mache and junk modeling the children represent some of these key features of their continent and decorate the surface of the planet. Access to computers and/or Atlases aid this workshop, but are not essential.

Fish Mobile

Fish were made from factory waste. I have large amounts of colourful neoprene – like foam and other recycled materials that I get from scrap stores and industrial sources. Over a period of two days approximately 80 students at a secondary school in Plymouth attended a 2hr workshop with me, where they made drawings and 3d fish from this foam. Their engaging and often comic results were installed as mobiles in the canteen area of the school, the gentle air currents causing them to bob in a strangely convincing manner!

Papier Mache Ganesh

This project developed from a commission to make a life sized figure in Papier mache. It was made with chicken wire and newspaper, then embellished some recycled plastic bling and food offerings. A little collage decorates the fabric pattern for this jolly God’s elephantine fancy pants. Children at Willand Primary helped by adding layers of paper and painting the surface, as well as designing accessories.